Boomers struggle on defence in loss to Lithuania

Roy Ward

Australia failed to contain Lithuania's potent attack and paid the price as the Boomers fell to the first loss of their European tour on Tuesday morning .

The Boomers lost 91-78 to Lithuania in the final game of their four-team tournament in Klaipeda, Lithuania as Toronto Raptors centre Jonas Valanciunas (19 points, eight rebounds) dominated the first half then a bevy of Lithuanians found their range in the second half as the home side had five players in double figures and shot 61 per cent from the field.

The highlight for the Boomers was a vintage performance from 34 year old big man David Andersen who shot 19 points including three of four from the three-point line.

Brock Motum continued his strong form for the Boomers with 10 points while only playing 13 minutes.

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The Boomers will face Lithuania in group play at the FIBA world cup in Spain later this month so it was little surprise coach Andrej Lemanis kept in-form guard Brad Newley to only 10 minutes and his best defensive big man, Chicago Bulls forward Cam Bairstow, to 13 minutes, while spreading court-time between many of his players.

The Boomers coaching staff will need to address how the team will handle both Valanciunas and Houston Rockets power forward Donatas Montiejunas who troubled the team, especially when they played together in the first half.

Lemanis will also be looking for more points from leading guards Matthew Dellavedova (eight points, six assists), Dante Exum (five points, four assists) and Joe Ingles (seven points, five assists) who passed well but only took 14 shots combined.

The Boomers will move to Helsinki to play a one-off game against Finland on Wednesday at 2am [Australian time] before moving to Nice, France for another four-team tournament starting on Saturday.

In the FIBA under-17 men's world championships in Dubai on Monday night Australian centre Isaac Humphries set a new tournament scoring record.

Humphries scored a tournament-high 41 points in Australia’s 85-75 loss to Canada while grabbing 19 rebounds and blocking five shots.

The New South Welshman's score beat the previous high of 37 points set by Korea’s Heo Hoon in 2012.

Humphries, a member of Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence, shot 16 of 23 from the field and nine of 11 from the free throw line and also made a spectacular spin-move and dunk in the second half.

Blue-chip US colleges Kansas and Duke are reported to be keen on recruiting the 210-centimetre teenager.

Despite Humphries' performance, Australia struggled to contain the speedy Canadian guards with captain Jamal Murray scoring 25 points in 26 minutes while point guard Howard Washington Junior made key shots in the fourth quarter to finish with 18 points.

Australia will face Greece in the round of 16 on Tuesday night after finishing third in its group.